Dinner Tonight: Chickpea Salad with Feta and Mint

I'm not too crazy about room-temperature bean salads; I like my beans best when they're hot and refried. But I'm always tempted by legume recipes for their cheapness and healthiness, and it's the season for salads. I've also yet to meet a Jamie Oliver salad that I didn't like—the man has a knack. So when I saw this chickpea recipe, I took a chance. I liked that they are heated in a skillet to give them color and creaminess, similarly to another delicious recipe I made awhile back.

Shedding the usual trappings of lettuce and raw vegetables, this salad pairs the creamy chickpea against salty feta cheese and sweet cherry tomatoes; bits of basil and mint shoot it through with herby freshness. The dressing is bright and lemony, and a little hot from a fresh chili. It's not a revolutionary recipe, but it was simple to prepare and very appealing. The trick to take away is the heating of the chickpeas; beyond that, the spices and ingredients could be easily adapted.

Dinner Tonight: Chickpea Salad with Feta and Mint

About This Recipe

Yield:

4

Ingredients

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1 small fresh red chili, deseeded and minced

2 handfuls red or yellow cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

Extra virgin olive oil to taste

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

410g can of good-quality imported chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, roughly torn or chopped

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, roughly torn or chopped

7 ounces feta cheese

Procedures

1

Combine the onion, chili, and tomatoes with their juice into a bowl. Dress with most of the lemon juice and olive oil to taste (about three times as much as lemon juice), then season with salt and pepper.

2

In a small skillet, drizzle a little olive oil over medium heat and add the chickpeas. Cook for a few minutes until hot and creamy and just beginning to color. Add them to the bowl and allow to marinate and cool.

3

Once cooled, toss the herbs and season again to taste, adding any remaining lemon juice if needed. Serve with the feta cheese loosely crumbled on top.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Chicago, one of Blake's earliest food memories was a Chicago-style hot dog with all the toppings. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

As a co-founder of The Paupered Chef And a Serious Eats Contributor since the beginning, Blake has been writing about food regularly since 2006. He currently contributes weekly to Dinner Tonight and writes the Chicago-based column Sausage City. He studied professional cookery at Kendall College in Chicago, and is creative director of Jamco Creative, an outfit in Chicago that specializes in social media marketing.